Part 12

Even our immortal William of Avon says:

“The Nightingale, if he should sing by day When every goose is cackling would be thought No better a musician than the Wren.”

The fact that the bird sings by day as well as by night was known, however, to the ancients, because Virgil mentions it. Readers of this little volume will also gather that other feathered musicians, such as the Sedge and Grasshopper Warblers, Woodlark, and Cuckoo, also sing by night.

Individual members of this species differ in the quality of their notes, as was observed as far back as Pliny’s time.

The alarm note sounds like wate, wate, cur, cur, or witt, krr.

=THE LESSER WHITETHROAT.=

The Lesser Whitethroat arrives in April and leaves again in September. It is far less numerous than its larger relative, and is not so widely distributed over the British Islands. This bird is most plentiful in the South and East of England, becoming scarcer towards the North and West, rare in Scotland, and absent altogether from Ireland as a breeding species.

It measures just over five inches in length, and has the upper parts greyish-brown, wings and tail dusky, the feathers being edged with greyish-brown instead of chestnut, which distinguishes it from the Greater Whitethroat. The under parts are greyish-white.

This species loves high, thick hedges rather than large woods, and builds its nest, which is a slight and flimsy structure made of dead grass, stalks, and lined with horsehair, in hedges, briar, bramble, gorse, and other bushes.

The eggs, four or five in number, are white or light creamy white, with the faintest suggestion of green in ground colour, spotted and speckled with ash-grey and greenish-brown.

The Lesser Whitethroat is inferior to the Greater as a musician, but makes up for its deficiency in quality by its liberality in regard to quantity, for it sings almost incessantly, especially during sultry weather, and keeps on until very late in the summer. Its notes are without variation, hurriedly delivered, and sound like sip, sip, sip.

The bird’s call notes have been likened to the words check, check.

=THE SISKIN.=

This favourite cage pet measures a little over four and a half inches in length, has the top of the head black and the upper parts of the body greenish-olive, streaked with black, except the greater wing coverts and quills, which are brownish-black, tipped and bordered with yellow; rump yellow, upper tail coverts greenish-olive. The tail is slightly forked and dusky black, yellowish on the upper half, except in the case of the two centre feathers. A yellow streak runs over and behind the eye. Chin black, throat and breast yellowish-green, under parts greyish-white streaked with dusky black.

The female is a trifle smaller, and lacks the black on her crown and chin.

Although the nest of this species, which used to be called the Aberdevine amongst bird-catchers, has been found occasionally in various parts of England, it is chiefly known as a winter visitor, and may be seen, along with flocks of Redpolls, feeding upon the seeds of the alder, birch, and larch, from September until April. It breeds regularly, however, in the great pine forests of Scotland and in certain parts of Ireland.

The nest is generally placed on the branch of a fir at a considerable height from the ground, although specimens have been found even in furze and juniper bushes. It is composed of slender twigs, dried grass, moss, wool, and horsehair, lined with vegetable down, rabbit’s fur, and a few soft feathers.

From four to six eggs are laid, of a greyish-white ground colour, tinted with green or pale bluish-green, spotted and speckled with pale and dark reddish-brown, sometimes streaked with the latter colour.

The song of the Siskin has been likened to the running-down of a piece of clockwork, and it used to be a great favourite amongst stocking weavers in Germany as a cage pet, on account of the fact that the tones of its song mingled so as to resemble the noise made by stocking looms.

One day I watched and listened to a cock in a Highland forest for some time. He sat for a little while on the topmost spray of a tall fir tree uttering his somewhat low but sweet and varied notes, then took an excursion into the air as if he intended to fly away, but changed his mind and his course several times, and on each occasion repeated his melody, and finally came back and alighted on the same twig from which he started.

The call notes are shrill and oft-repeated during flight, sounding something like tit, tit, tit, or tut, tut, tut.

=THE SEDGE WARBLER.=

The Sedge Warbler, or Sedge bird, as this restless, noisy little creature is frequently called, is by far the most numerous member of its family visiting the British Islands during the summer. It arrives in April, and takes its departure again for its winter quarters, which extend as far as South Africa, in September, although odd specimens are said to have been seen even in winter.

It is about four inches and three-quarters in length, greyish-brown on its upper parts, streaked with dusky brown; its chin and throat are white, and under parts pale buff. Over the eye is a conspicuous yellowish white streak, which, together with the dark stripes on its back, readily distinguish it from its relative, the Reed Warbler.

This species breeds in suitable localities nearly all over the British Islands, with exception of the Shetlands. I have met with it in tiny clumps of willows growing by small stream-sides high up amongst the Westmorland Fells.

Its home is amongst reeds, rushes, osiers, brambles, and all kinds of bushes near to lakes, swamps, rivers, ponds, and ditches, although it may occasionally be met with breeding at a considerable distance from water.

The Sedge Warbler builds its nest in rushes, brambles, bushes, and almost any kind of thick, tangled herbage. It is generally lower down than that of the Reed Warbler, sometimes quite upon the ground. I have found it on several occasions upon young pollards a yard from the ground, and once in a hedgerow at an elevation of five or six feet. The structure is loosely built and composed of grass and moss outside, lined with willow down and horsehair. It is frequently adorned with a large white feather protruding over the outside edge or bending inwards in such a way as to hide the eggs. These number five or six, of a pale yellowish-brown clay colour, clouded and mottled with darker brown, and often streaked at the larger end with hair-like black lines.

This bird is a persistent singer, with a harsh voice, an inordinate fancy for repetition, and a great faculty for mimicking the cries of other birds. It is willing to oblige anyone who will listen to its chattering, half-scolding, and always hurried song, night or day. A handful of gravel or mould thrown into any reeds or bushes wherein a male Sedge Warbler is roosting will nearly always induce the bird to pour forth a stream of melody.